The ''Dnyaneshwari'' ( mr, ज्ञानेश्वरी) ( IAST: Jñānēśvarī), also referred to as ''Jnanesvari'', ''Jnaneshwari'' or ''Bhavartha Deepika'' is a commentary on the '' Bhagavad Gita'' written by the Marathi saint and poet

Sant Dnyaneshwar Sant Dnyaneshwar (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ɲaːn̪eʃʋəɾ, also referred to as Jnaneshwar, Jnanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296), was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of ...

in 1290 CE. Dnyaneshwar (born 1275) lived a short life of 22 years, and this commentary is notable to have been composed in his teens. The text is the oldest surviving literary work in the Marathi language, one that inspired major Bhakti movement saint-poets such as

Eknath Eknath (IAST: Eka-nātha, Marathi pronunciation: knath (1533–1599), commonly known as Sant Eknath was an Indian Hindu saint, philosopher and poet. He was a devotee of the Hindu deity Vitthal and is a major figure of the Warkari movement ...

and

Tukaram Sant Tukaram Maharaj (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam was a 17th-century Marathi poet, Hindu ''sant'' (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) ...

of the Varkari (

Vithoba Vithoba, also known as Vi(t)thal(a) and Panduranga, is a Hindu deity predominantly worshipped in the Indian state of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He is generally considered as a manifestation of the god Vishnu, or his avatar Krishna. Vithoba is ...

) tradition. The ''Dnyaneshwari'' interprets the ''Bhagavad Gita'' in the

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ( ...

tradition of Hinduism. The philosophical depth of the text has been praised for its aesthetic as well as scholarly value. According to Pradhan and Lambert, the reliable dating of ''Dnyaneshwari'' to 1290 CE is based on textual and corroborative reference to the Yadava king Ramadeva as well as the name of the scribe and the ''samvat'' of its completion. It is also confirmed by the works of

Namdev Shri Sant Namdev Maharaj (Pronunciation: aːmdeʋ, also transliterated as Nam Dayv, Namdeo, Namadeva, (traditionally, ) was a Marathi Bahujan saint from Narsi, Hingoli, Maharashtra, India within the Varkari tradition of Hinduism. He li ...

, another contemporary Bhakti movement saint-poet, who mentions Dnyaneshwari and who the Hindu tradition believes accompanied Dnyaneshwari on various pilgrimages. The authenticity of the ''Dnyaneshwari'' has been contested in light of

comments in late 16th-century, where he stated he had restored the text to the original version, and asked "neither change nor addition should be permitted". Scholars generally accept that this version is most faithful one, and this edition was identified in 1909 by V. K. Rajvade and published in 1959. The narrative of the ''Dnyaneshwari'' closely follows the ''Bhagavad Gita'', yet the commentary – called ''tika'' in the local tradition – is written in the form of a "song-sermon" that expands the explanation to include a discussion of the major Hindu philosophies and beliefs in the 13th-century. While the ''Gita'' has 700 verses, the ''Dnyaneshwari'' has about 9,000 verses. It includes references to the Vedas, the Upanishads and other major Hindu texts. The ''Dnyaneshwari'' is a rhythmic prose, that can be recited alone or chanted as a group. Each of its 9,000 verses consists of four lines (quarters) called an ''ovi'' (a form of Marathi meter). Unlike the ''Gita'' which has fixed number of syllables in its verses and which do not rhyme, the ''Dnyaneshwari'' commentary on the ''Gita'' has a variable number of syllables per line, of which first three of four do rhyme. Each line in the ''Dnyaneshwari'' typically has between three and thirteen syllables. The text reverentially includes the names of numerous Hindu gods and goddesses from Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism traditions, as well as Vedic ones such as Saraswati (Sharada). The last line of many of its verses include the characteristic "Jnanadeva says" or "Says Jnanesvara". This format was adopted by other later era Bhakti movement poets, as well as in the Guru Granth of Sikhism. The ''Jnaneswari'', though written in Marathi, is replete with

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

words.

References

External links

Jnaneshwari (Bhavartha Dipika)
English translation by R. K. Bhagwat, 1954 (includes glossary) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dnyaneshwari Bhagavad Gita Hindu texts Marathi-language literature Warkari Indian non-fiction books 13th-century books Cultural history of India

References

Further reading

See also

External links